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In the movie "Deep Impact"; Morgan Freeman plays the POTUS. During a press conference, he announces that a giant asteroid is heading towards Earth and in the same conference, he also says that he is "freezing all wages & prices of commodities. There will be no hoarding of any items". I would imagine the situation in Kerala/Kodagu demands similar response i.e. corporations should not be allowed to profit during times of extreme human misery.

chetak wrote:The screen shot is not reflecting accurate picture as the most of the jet flights have 2 stops and the duration is 20 hr plus. So we need to have an awareness of which 2 cities the flights are stopping before commenting on the fare.

This! Jet may not have direct flights between the cities for the times selected or they may be sold out. 2 stops means a total of three flights.

Can any one give some bullet points on this? Long time back there were rumours that Jet Airways was launched with lots of shady money and shady partners. Are those rumours now becoming true? Or is it some thing else?

Can any one give some bullet points on this? Long time back there were rumours that Jet Airways was launched with lots of shady money and shady partners. Are those rumours now becoming true? Or is it some thing else?

Jet Airways has been under suspicion for shady money trail for many times. I remember SuSwamy claiming in one TV debate that such adverse report by our intelligence agencies on Jet Airways and proposed investments from Gulf was submitted that even UPA government had to go slow on the proposal. Perhaps DeMo and overall cleanup drive has choked money channels..?

Anyhow it has to be an epic failure for a pvt company to come under such situation when its operating in world's fastest growing Airline industry, and where its competitors are ordering aircrafts by hundreds.

Can any one give some bullet points on this? Long time back there were rumours that Jet Airways was launched with lots of shady money and shady partners. Are those rumours now becoming true? Or is it some thing else?

Jet Airways has been under suspicion for shady money trail for many times. I remember SuSwamy claiming in one TV debate that such adverse report by our intelligence agencies on Jet Airways and proposed investments from Gulf was submitted that even UPA government had to go slow on the proposal. Perhaps DeMo and overall cleanup drive has choked money channels..?

Anyhow it has to be an epic failure for a pvt company to come under such situation when its operating in world's fastest growing Airline industry, and where its competitors are ordering aircrafts by hundreds.

If Jet's time has come, it will fall. When industry titans like Pan-Am and TWA can collapse Jet is small potatoes in comparison. Delta was in such a precarious position once that its own employees had to pool their money and bail it out. But they got out of it and if Jet gets the right management they may as well. Or not. SpiceJet was in a similar position a few years back I believe. They seem to be doing better now.

The problem with Air India is that it never falls. It gets bailed out again and again with taxpayer money. I have lost count of how many times it has been bailed out now. At least Jet is not going to get bailed out by the government now that they are in deep doodoo because of their own mistakes.

Apologies for posting something from "Undietv", moderators can delete. But this is an exclusive on India's first flight using bio-fuel, used on a Spice Jet plane. Interview with scientist on board, and smart sounding CEO. Also, Vishnu Som presenting it.

Since gurus teach that competition is a creative destructive force that continuously eliminates the least efficient parts from the competition which in turn produces a balanced and healthy market for all. What is happening, IMHO, is that the elimination doors been restricted by two obstacles which is causing entire industry to suffer losses in a fabulously fast growing market.

One of these obstacle is that GoI would not let the Air India, the least efficient and natural target of cometitive forces, die. In other words Jet has to die in place of Air India because the later’s got unlimited access to tax payers pocket.

The second obstacle for elimination was easy money from banks that kept unsustainable businesses like Kingfisher alive way beyond their expiry date, creating massive accumulation of losses for others. Fortunately this obstacle’s being removed so weaklings smong businesses are forced to die, mearge or get fresh equity.

Apologies for posting something from "Undietv", moderators can delete. But this is an exclusive on India's first flight using bio-fuel, used on a Spice Jet plane. Interview with scientist on board, and smart sounding CEO. Also, Vishnu Som presenting it.

there is nothing great about this "achievement". It has been done elsewhere and also many times before and seems like a mere PR and free publicity exercise for spicejet.

bio fuel in India can never be produced in significant quantities to really make a difference.

As a page three filler, it sounds glamorous enough for the champagne-swilling "environmentalist".

Furthermore, dehradun is one of THE diciest airports in India, and one requiring special piloting skills to get in and out of and it's not every pilot's cup of tea.

So which idiot decided to test fly from here?? Such a flight completely disregards all ideas of basic flight safety.

Apologies for posting something from "Undietv", moderators can delete. But this is an exclusive on India's first flight using bio-fuel, used on a Spice Jet plane. Interview with scientist on board, and smart sounding CEO. Also, Vishnu Som presenting it.

there is nothing great about this "achievement". It has been done elsewhere and also many times before and seems like a mere PR and free publicity exercise for spicejet.

bio fuel in India can never be produced in significant quantities to really make a difference.

As a page three filler, it sounds glamorous enough for the champagne-swilling "environmentalist".

Furthermore, dehradun is one of THE diciest airports in India, and one requiring special piloting skills to get in and out of and it's not every pilot's cup of tea.

So which idiot decided to test fly from here?? Such a flight completely disregards all ideas of basic flight safety.

Had a recent trip to Jolly Grant Sir. Weather was dicey, not the runway Sir.

Flights from Kolkata to Pakyong airport (Gangtok) are starting from 10th Oct - with Spicejet's daily flight. So far Sikkim was the only state in India with no airport. This will be a huge boost to tourism and help supply the army.

Boeing wanted to maintain the same wheel well design of existing 737MAX-8/9 models to MAX-10. Usually a longer fuselage requires a longer landing gear. Quick video on the innovative design solution arrived by Boeing engineering teams to fit a longer landing gear in to existing wheel well. Amazing...

^^ There are many such innovations, used in MLG I believe for solving the same or similar problem. A video going on similar lines, doesn't really explain individual mechanisms, but I am sure there are a whole bunch of innovative solutions go in arriving in such LG configs.

Seaplanes and aerodomes (airports on water) are about to make a huge splash in India.

This mode of transport although largely abandoned in western countries is well suited for India.

In place of airports, aerodomes created all along the coast of the country can enable thousands of sea planes to hop up and down the entire coastline of India. Since India is surrounded by water from coast to coast (except in the North East), this is a pretty good idea.

Start designing and building sea planes of small to medium size capacity.

Aerodomes, unlike airports, are immune to ballistic & cruise missile attacks, since there is no runway to destroy. This is especially so if the infrastructure on shore is kept mobile. A good alternative to light aircraft carriers operating near home base.

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Navigating a future for seaplanes will be tough

Gadkari, who has been linked to disruptive change ever since he promoted 50 flyovers across Mumbai in the 1990s, expansively spoke about the potential for 10,000 seaplanes. “We have 3-4 lakh ponds in India, plenty of dams, 2,000 river ports, 200 small ports and 12 major ports,” he said, implying that all of them could be accessed by seaplanes. He pointed to destinations like Shirdi, which could be easily accessed this way.

Left-Liberal Outrage Bogus: Why Soundararajan Was Right To Take Unruly Sophia To Court

by Mayuresh Didolkar

Sep 05, 2018,

SnapshotSophia’s behaviour was a staggeringly ill-advised and Dr Soundararajan was entirely justified in taking serious cognizance of it.

Predictably, the arrest and subsequent release of an unruly passenger named Lois Sophia, who tried to intimidate Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Dr Tamilsai Soundararajan was the talk of the social media yesterday (4 September). While partisanship almost always dictates whose side you are going to come down on, I think in the lead-up to what appears to be an extremely antagonistic 2019, it is important to put the left-liberal-opposition nexus’s howling on this issue in its proper context.

To start with, let’s call Sophia’s behaviour for what it was – an obnoxious, intolerant zealot’s demonstration of her nasty temper that within the confines of the aeroplane could have had very serious consequences for everyone. In the justifiably jittery post 9/11 world, where even NFL stars can get themselves arrested for a bomb joke, it was a staggeringly ill-advised and inconsiderate provocation and Dr Soundararajan was entirely justified in taking serious cognizance of it.

The Left-liberal-opposition axis, however, took very unkindly to it and exploded in outrage about the “fascist” government, arresting “student” for calling the government fascist. Veteran journalist Rajdeep Sardesai demanded that a copy of the Constitution be sent to the police and BJP, because you know creating a ruckus on an aeroplane is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. Another journalist wanted to know on what basis did Dr Soundararajan accuse Sophia of being a terrorist, because as it was established Sophia had photographic evidence of Dr Soundararajan shaking hands with Mussolini himself before accusing the BJP leader of being a fascist!

That the Left strongly believes in intimidation as a valid tool is an established fact. This in turn, stems from their fundamental belief that those in disagreement with them must be either stupid or morally deficient. Why waste time explaining your position to the stupid or the villains? We saw them do this when filmmaker and author Vivek Agnihotri tried to take his film to screen at the Jadhavpur University, we saw them do this when they recently tried to prevent the Pondy Lit Fest from taking place.

This tactic of invading people’s private space when they are in public, is merely an individual level set-up of the broader politics of intimidation. Like most of Indian Left’s idea, this too has its roots in the American Left tactics. As a guerilla tactic it works because:

1) It often catches people when their political guard is supposedly down, eating at a restaurant or boarding a plane.

2) These ugly confrontations in public places also serve as warning to the silent majority of the other side – “mess with us and we won’t let you fly in peace.”

3) Unlike demonstrations on college campuses, these kind of do-it-yourself intimidation attacks require no co-ordination and very little expense.

4) Lastly, this tactic conforms to Saul Alinsky’s rule for radical number 6 – “a good tactic is the one your people enjoy”.

There is nothing that the over-entitled, mollycoddled, snow-flake millennial social justice warriors enjoy as much as drowning out your opponent’s voice by screaming loudly.

For far too long, the Left has successfully employed another one of Saul Alinsky’s rule for radical – “make the opposition live up to their own rules”. Principle of free speech is not recognised in any country on the earth where the Left rules, but still when it comes to a democratic country, they will try to make their opponents live up to the principle of free speech even when it puts people’s safety and well being at risk.

There is of course the favourite Left-liberal twist to this story. We saw it during the intolerance debate earlier, and we saw it again now. Back then they cited critiques of intolerance rhetoric as proof of intolerance itself. Today they offered the lawful action taken against the miscreant as a proof of fascism. This is a little ‘heads, I win; tails, you lose’ situation – if you don’t respond to their charges, they will repeat them until it becomes the truth. If you refute whatever ridiculous assertion they are trying to make, they will wave that about as proof of the same assertion.

Only one problem. For this to work, and to expand exponentially (have no doubt, if left unchecked, you and I are in for similar harassment at the hands of the intolerant Left at least for the next year), your people need to be reasonably sure that they could get away with it. Inside every frothing-at-mouth liberal making “off-with-his-head” proclamations on social media, there is a coward crybully, who finds the idea that their actions have consequence inherently unfair. The miscreant had 16 lawyers appearing on her behalf, she got bail.

However, the fact that there could be legal consequences to such behaviour might scare a few of these social justice warriors away. Also as impressive as the Left ecosystem is and as vast an apparatus they have at their disposal, is it adequate to spring 1,000 such miscreants out of jail? If yes, is it cost effective?

And therein lies the core of the Left-liberal-opposition indignation over this. To them, by not turning the other cheek, or by not laughing off this criminal trespass of her private space, Dr Soundararajan chose one course of action that would force them to go down the rabbit hole they don’t want to.

For the next one year at least, this method of harassment could be a very potent tactic to scare at least a few of the BJP supporters away. But that only works if there is a clean getaway. If the Left hates anyone that disagrees with them, then they positively loathe someone who responds fire with fire. Their vision of an ideal world is where they are screaming “fascists” in the face of their opponents while the opponents, gently and with an apologetic smile, try to reason with them.

An opposition that calls a spade a spade and throws the law at them is a dangerous opposition, mostly because an anarchist ideology like Left can’t do much within the confines of law and order. You and I as common citizens, however, must understand the immense risk such tactics pose to our freedom of movement and personal safety, and continue to call out such uncouth behaviour whenever it happens.

The writer is a investment services professional and novelist. His latest novel The Dark Road was published by Juggernaut Publications.

Elsewhere, they would have been out of a job instantly, but not in the land of the ancient vimanas.

here, a phone call to papa to tell him to "speak" to the civil aviation minister so that uncle can take a lenient view of a "mistake" that could have happened to anyone and anyway, the ATC at male/riyadh should have warned them so it is all their fault anyway.

The A320 neo plane was operating from Thiruvananthapuram to Male. There were 136 passengers and crew on board.

An Air India flight on Friday landed on an under-construction runway that was yet to made operational at Velana International Airport in Male, the capital of Maldives, putting the lives of 132 passengers at risk.

According to a DGCA official, Flight AI 263 operating from Thiruvananthapuram to Male landed on the wrong runway at 3.55 pm. Fortunately, all 136 passengers and crew on board the new Airbus A320neo aircraft were safe.

The official said two tyres of the aircraft got deflated while landing and the plane had to be towed back to the parking bay. The tyres could have developed a flat after the pilots applied breaks upon realising they got the runway wrong. The aviation regulatory authority of Maldives is investigating the incident.

A DGCA statement said, “this being a serious incident, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has been informed. Both the pilots have been off rostered”.

This is second such incident within a month that a flight operated by Indian airline company has landed at or tried to take off from the wrong runway.

On August 3, pilots of a Jet Airways Boeing 737 had attempted take off from a taxiway parallel to the runway.

The aircraft then went off the paved area of the taxiway and got stuck there.

Saudi Arabia’s Aviation Investigation Bureau (AIB) on Monday said the Mumbai-bound Jet Airways Boeing 737, involved in an incident of skidding and evacuation of passengers, was trying to take off from a taxiway and not the designated runway of Riyadh airport.

before jumping on your seat to catch conclusions, perhaps you should read my post carefully, and point where did i give the clean chit to the pilot. If he's done it after being correctly told by ATC he's the most idiot guy. I hope you and your family were not in that flight. What I merely floated was the balloon that what if he was being told incorrectly.

ArjunPandit wrote:before jumping on your seat to catch conclusions, perhaps you should read my post carefully, and point where did i give the clean chit to the pilot. If he's done it after being correctly told by ATC he's the most idiot guy. I hope you and your family were not in that flight. What I merely floated was the balloon that what if he was being told incorrectly.

There are mandatory charts that the pilots have to carry with them at all times when operating aircraft. This is a very expensive subscription service that the company pays for. These charts are updated regularly and are also available in electronic form. This is the very first and primary line of defence. Pilots plan their flights using these very charts as one of their inputs.

These charts would have clearly and specifically told the crew which R/W was operational and which R/W wasn't, even before take off. Apart from such mundane info, it also gives every single blessed detail about the airport, like frequencies, let down procedures, drawings, obstructions with details like direction and height above the R/Ws, taxi tracks, emergency services available and the surroundings or the approach to the airport ityadi. The crew is supposed to review in detail all these inputs before each flight well before even contacting the local ATC. in a vast majority of airports, active R/Ws are specifically marked. The crew have to know and be familar all these things in detail before departure. Even the very accurate GPS location for the destination airport can be set from these charts. The charts also warn of any and all CONSTRUCTION WORK IN PROGRESS ON ANY RUNWAY at any airport in the WORLD

And, don't forget that the mistake was not made by one pilot in the cockpit but two because one is the PF (pilot flying) and the other automatically becomes the PM (pilot MONITORING).

If the local ILS (??) was not working, the ATC would right away have told him so. The pilot would then have been cleared for a visual approach and ATC would have cautioned him about the R/W in use.

Let us for a moment charitably assume that ATC made a mistake. Why was the captain DUMB enough to accept such stupid instructions?? as he is the ONLY one who is legally and ultimately responsible for the safety of his passengers + crew and the safety of the aircraft.

Was he not situationally aware of what was going on??

Such extreme unprofessionalism always my goat.

Flying is a hazardous enough profession without adding dimwits into the mix.

What about our great jet airways champion who tried to take off from the taxi track at riyadh airport?? Maybe he was in a tearing hurry to get home, no?? or did riyadh ATC fool him too??

Or, with both airports being totally ummah controlled, your CT is valid, after all.

here are all the details.

A NOTAM was issued and it was in force at the time of the incident.

No pilot is ever going to escape full and sole responsibility for such an incident

Narrative:Air India flight AI263, an Airbus A320neo landed on a runway that was under construction at Male Velana International Airport in the Maldives. A tyre reportedly deflated. The aircraft was then towed to the gate.

indonesia is punching big now...its airline garuda is also now back in european skies after the ban was liftedit helps being a populous island with no chance of taking a train to singapore or malaysia.they also a agile private operator called "Batik air"

not a single EU or US domestic route is in that...while US has dispersed recessed power with many large hubs, EU mostly has 1 hub per country or at best 2.

Some big surprises in that list. But it should be pointed out that some of those destinations are also served by train (and bus) connections so the actual numbers of travellers may be much higher. Air travel being able to capture only a part of this group.

If this is not kick ass what else is ?? AI pilot hero Sri Rustom Palia - fod diya sir aapney(I fly frequently(every other week) on that route and the AI-173 line and cant thank the hero enough. Btw, I fly AI to JFK or SFO because it is the fastest and on top of it the crew is really the best, i can rate AI as the best in this sector after having flown almost all the international airlines on this sector(instances where no veg food or food being thrown at you, as if the air crew gets paid to be rude to me), have had instances where brown sahibs come and ask for vegan diet(that too having requested less than 24 hrs prior to flight and the aircrew on board makes such a meal from their own meal. Have switched a number of colleagues to AI)

"We're really, you know, stuck and there's no fuel," a terse message from Captain Rustom Palia, commanding an Air India Boeing 777-300 to Air Traffic Control in New York.There were 370 passengers on board AI-101, Air India's flagship flight, which tried, and failed to land at New York's John F Kennedy International airport on September 11 in deteriorating weather conditions. They had been flying for more than 15 hours on the non-stop service from New Delhi, among the longest flights in the world. This was a pilot's worst nightmare during the most critical phase of its flight - its landing.

"Basically, we've got a single source radio altimeter, we have a Terrain Collision and Avoidance System failure", radioed in the Commander of the Air India 777-300 to Air Traffic Control in New York. "No Auto-land, no windshear systems, (no) Auto Speed Brake and the Auxillary Power Unit is unserviceable as well," he added. And that was not all. All three Instrument Landing System (ILS) receivers on board the jet malfunctioned. ILS is the key system that helps pilots align the jet with the runway during landing in any weather condition, day and night. "This Instrument Landing System is unpredictable", the pilot told Air Traffic Control (ATC) "because every time we turn towards the localiser, it is just gone.""Your Instrument Landing System is out of service on both sides of the aircraft, right?" asked Air Traffic Control. "Yea, that's correct," the pilot responded."And you said your radio altimeters are out on both sides of the airplane?" the ATC asked."Uh, that right, we are on a single radio altimeter now," the pilot said.

In simple terms, the pilots of the nine-year-old Boeing 777-300, among the most sophisticated airliners ever designed, would need to manually land the massive jet without the aid of a host of systems designed to help the process. With dangerously low fuel on board and extremely cloudy conditions over large parts of the New York state area, they would need to keep descending in the approximate direction of the runway without knowing its precise location. With the cloud base at just 400 feet, the pilots would need to fly even lower to be able to spot the runway. "Okay, Air India, just when you get the chance, give me the people on board and the fuel on board please," the ATC said."We have a total of 370 (souls) on board' and fuel is 7200 kg, Air India-101", replied one of the pilots to the ATC.

In the end, after being unable to land at JFK International Airport after confronting a series of instrument failures, the pilots of AI-101 were able to land at its designated alternate airport, Newark. By then, the Commander of AI-101 had made up his mind. There was not enough fuel to risk flying to Albany, Boston or Bradley International Airport at Connecticut and he would take the chance "shooting an approach" into Newark despite the marginal weather conditions. Without the availability of his Instrument Landing Systems, the crew decided to attempt a "non-precision" approach by using the few functional navigation aids on board. This meant using the jet's Vertical and Lateral Navigation systems to simulate an Instrument Landing Approach into Newark. This was an out-of-the-box approach, something Air India does not train its pilots in. Boeing, the manufacturer of the jet, does not mention use of this technique either in its operational guidelines for the 777 aircraft.

Moments before touchdown, the tower at Newark Airport sounded out an alert and said AI-101 was flying too late on its approach. 90 seconds later, the big jet was on the ground, approximately 38 minutes after the in-cockpit crisis first occurred.Air India has refused comment on the incident pending an investigation. Audio of the conversation between the crew of AI-101 and Air Traffic Control was released by liveatc.net.